Predator's Waltz by Brandon Jay

Author:Brandon, Jay [Brandon, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Elesambeth House
Published: 2012-08-08T16:00:00+00:00

He tried to send Thien away but the boy wouldn’t go. When it became clear that Daniel’s only option was to push him out the front door and let him stand there knocking while he worked, Daniel let him stay, which turned out well.

Not only did the cowboys not speak English, they wouldn’t talk at all.

Daniel set up shop in the garage. The two men lay on the cold cement floor with their feet tied and their hands tied behind their backs, but their mouths ungagged.

“Tell them to scream if they like,” Daniel said to Thien. “No one will hear them. No one would help them if they did hear.”

He had no way of knowing if Thien was translating correctly. The boy’s piping teenage voice didn’t have the right threatening tone in any event. The men looked completely unmoved by whatever Thien imparted to them.

The garage was dim. There was one light at the far end, over the washing machine, rather than directly overhead. There were openwork beams above. An aluminum lad­der hung on one wall. There was a workbench in the comer, and the hammers and saws hanging on pegs above it gave the place the vague but appropriate look of a torture chamber. Daniel needed a fire of glowing coals with a branding iron heating in it. He already felt a little absurd. He tried to keep his mind on Carol.

“All I want is Khai’s address. They’ll tell it to me sooner or later, so they might as well do it now while they’re undamaged.”

He saw a flicker in the eyes of the man who had almost shot him. Khai’s name had done that. Otherwise his expression stayed flat.

The other one, the one who had gone down on the back of his head, still looked dazed. He didn’t appear to be paying attention at all. Daniel stood over him until the man looked up, then he dropped to his knees on the man’s chest. The cowboy’s eyes brightened.

Thien translated, more than one sentence. Daniel held the man’s eyes as the boy spoke. This one wasn’t so good at the neutral expression. His eyes widened.

“Understand?” Daniel said again. No reaction. He slapped the man’s face twice, forehand and backhand.

“Understand?”

The man nodded. The back of his head thumped the cement floor lightly.

Daniel was getting mad. That was lucky. It would make things easier.

“Just the address,” he said, speaking so intently he thought the cowboy could understand. Thien spoke quietly in the background. The man turned to look at him and Daniel slapped him again. “Just the address,” he repeated. The man nodded again but didn’t speak until Daniel raised his hand, clenched into a fist.

“He says he doesn’t know it,” Thien said quietly.

Daniel stood up. His face was suddenly hot. He kicked the man in the side. It wasn’t a hard kick, just an attention-getter, but the man groaned and rolled onto his side. Daniel used his foot to roll him back onto his back, put his foot into the man’s stomach, and leaned a little weight on it.

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